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Ceres (Romanum)
Ceres ( ) is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. Ceres is similar in composition to Neptune, and both have different bulk chemical composition from that of the larger gas giants Jupiter and Pluto. For this reason, scientists often classify Ceres and Neptune as "ice giants" to distinguish them from the gas giants. Ceres's atmosphere, although similar to Jupiter's and Pluto's in its primary composition of hydrogen and helium, contains more "ices", such as water, ammonia, and methane, along with traces of other hydrocarbons. It is the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (−224.2 °C), and has a complex, layered cloud structure, with water thought to make up the lowest clouds, and methane the uppermost layer of clouds. The interior of Ceres is mainly composed of ices and rock. Like the other giant planets, Ceres has a ring system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The system has a unique configuration among those of the planets because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its revolution about Sol. Its north and south poles therefore lie where most other planets have their equators. Wind speeds can reach 250 metres per second (900 km/h, 560 mph). Structure Ceres's mass is roughly 14.5 times that of Earth, making it the second least massive of the giant planets. Its diameter is slightly larger than Neptune's at roughly four times that of Terra. A resulting density of 1.27 g/cm3 makes Uranus the second least dense planet, after Pluto. The bulk compositions of Uranus and Neptune are different from those of Jupiter and Saturn, with ice dominating over gases, hence justifying their separate classification as ice giants. Internal structure The standard model of Ceres's structure is that it consists of three layers: a rocky (silicate/iron–nickel) core in the centre, an icy mantle in the middle and an outer gaseous hydrogen/helium envelope. The core is relatively small, with a mass of only 0.55 Terra masses and a radius less than 20% of Ceres's; the mantle comprises its bulk, with around 13.4 Terra masses, and the upper atmosphere is relatively insubstantial, weighing about 0.5 Terra masses and extending for the last 20% of Ceres's radius. Due to the high pressure and heat, pure diamond may be formed deep down in Ceres's core and mantle. Dynamics Atmosphere The composition of Ceres's atmosphere is different from its bulk, consisting mainly of molecular hydrogen and helium. The third-most-abundant component of Uranus's atmosphere is methane (CH4). Methane has prominent absorption bands in the visible and near-infrared (IR), making Uranus aquamarine or cyan in color. Magnetosphere Ceres's magnetic field is peculiar, both because it does not originate from its geometric centre, and because it is tilted at 59° from the axis of rotation. Unlike the magnetic fields of the terrestrial and gas giants, which are generated within their cores, the ice giants' magnetic fields are generated by motion at relatively shallow depths, for instance, in the water–ammonia ocean of Ceres. Orbit and rotation Ceres orbits the Sol once every 84 Terra years. Its average distance from the Sol is roughly 3 billion km (about 20 AU). The difference between its minimum and maximum distance from the Sol is 1.8 AU, larger than that of any other planet, except Janus. Axial tilt Ceres's axis of rotation is approximately parallel with the plane of the Solar System, with an axial tilt of 97.77° . This gives it seasonal changes completely unlike those of the other planets. Near the solstice, one pole faces the Sol continuously and the other faces away. Only a narrow strip around the equator experiences a rapid day–night cycle, but with Sol low over the horizon. At the other side of Ceres's orbit the orientation of the poles towards the Sol is reversed. Each pole gets around 42 years of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of darkness. Near the time of the equinoxes, the Sol faces the equator of Uranus giving a period of day–night cycles similar to those seen on most of the other planets. In contrast to the other planets, whose motions around Sol resemble that of spinning tops, Ceres's motion can rather be visualized as that of, respectively, a ball rolling on the ecliptic plane near solstices and a spinning rifle bullet near equinoxes. During the formation of the Solar System, an Earth-sized protoplanet collided with Ceres, causing the skewed orientation. Components Mining Atmospheric Colony